2 - The Students

Summary

This chapter places studentship at the College (1883–1913) within the national tertiary education context, and discusses the significant cost to individuals. It looks at the gender make-up of the student body in relation to the restrictions placed on what it was then considered appropriate for female students to learn. It considers issues of class that also helped determine student expectations. It explains that RCM scholarships were significant in bringing wind and brass students to the College (with a study profile of RCM scholars), and looks at some of the scholars who benefitted with more detailed discussion of Clara Butt, Charles Wood and George Dyson. The discussion of fee-paying students explains just why an RCM education represented a good investment in return for the fees paid. The fact that in this period there was no entry exam prompts the question of what the standard actually was, and a detailed analysis of a student sample argues that (with few exceptions) the student body was of an appropriate standard to benefit from professional training.